Post navigation

New Aussie Rum scores big

By Rebecca Harris
The Shout, Australia
An Australian rum that pays homage to the historical Rum Rebellion has scored top prize at a global spirits competition held last Wednesday (Jul 15).

Based in London, the International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC) judges spirit categories from across the globe and Australia’s Holey Dollar Gold Coin rum was this year named ‘Best Rum’.

It is a significant win for the rum, which is still in its infancy, with distribution only having begun this month (July).

“Until now Holey Dollar has been hand packaged and labelled with very limited availability for sale,” said Holey Dollar master distiller Stuart Gilbert, who created the brand in partnership with independent distributers Southtrade International.

“We will have much larger stocks available by the end of August to meet the rapid increase in demand that we are already experiencing,” he said.

Gilbert said that the Holey Dollar rum brand idea was conceived with Southtrade International director Tony Stubley in 2008 over lunch. “It was the 200th anniversary of the Rum Rebellion, a time when rum was Australia’s unofficial currency,” he said.

“We started talking about the Spanish Dollars that were re-formed in the colony in 1811 and became known as ‘Holey Dollars’, the first official currency made in Australia. Straight away we jumped on the opportunity to re-create a brand that was typical of the rum being brought to Australia at that time.”

In addition, the Holey Dollar range also won ‘Gold, Best in Class’ medals for its Silver Coin, Gold Coin and Strength Platinum Coin.